


Fell for You (and maybe your dragon)

by yamaguchiii (Tootsie23101)



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: HQ Rarepair Exchange, I love dragons, M/M, dragon rider au, i love this, no dragonxhumans, thats gross, there is no bestiality, yui semi hana and yama are dragons
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-12
Updated: 2016-03-12
Packaged: 2018-05-26 05:29:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,296
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6225838
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tootsie23101/pseuds/yamaguchiii
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Yuuji is a dragon rider that's new to the game, he wants to make an impact, specifically against the current champion Wakatoshi.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fell for You (and maybe your dragon)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [knightswatch](https://archiveofourown.org/users/knightswatch/gifts).



> hello i was a pinch hitter for hq rarepair exchange on tumblr and this is a gift for [knightswatch](www.knightswatch.tumblr.com), ushiteru rival dragon rider au. i love dragons, and sadly since they are not real i based a lot of them on real life animals, [really nice art of ushi](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvJxR_OoNXow%22>eagles%20can%20swim%20btw</a>.%20if%20anyone%20wants%20to%20see%20visuals%20of%20the%20dragons%20in%20this%20fic,%20i%20made%20them%20in%20a%20shitty%20dragon%20designer%20just%20hmu%20or%20i%20could%20make%20an%20album%20or%20somethign.%20also%20i%20ride%20horses%20so%20i%20kinda%20used%20my%20knowledge%20of%20that%20to%20figure%20out%20the%20technicalities%20of%20dragon%20riding.%20I%20hope%20I%20didn) tho and kinda based him off it ah ahfa aha

“Oh there’s another race going on against Wakatoshi...I guess we should go watch it Hana,” Yuuji said to his dragon while he looked at the signpost.  He was  _ originally _ looking for an easy way to get money so he could get to the capital and finally sign up for the dragon rider division of the military. But he had taken a liking to dragon racing, and any time he could see the reigning champion race was fine by him.

 

Coming from the small village of Johzenji high in the mountains, there wasn't a lot of access to dragon hatchers. Yuuji lucked out- while doing some apprenticeship searching, he saw a dragon hatchery that was looking for caretakers. He had never thought about taking care of dragon eggs before, but it was worth the shot. When the main caretaker was giving Yuuji a tour of the hatchery, they stopped in a room of soon to hatch eggs. Yuuji went up to one that was gold and yellow striped. He reached out and touched the shell, sure that something in it had drawn him towards it. He then heard a few taps from inside the egg, it started shaking. Yuuji stepped back, scared that he might have broken it. The cracks got larger and larger and eventually a small claw poked through. Yuuji helped pick away some of the shell to help the hatchling. Inside the egg was a tiny frilled dragon that matched the shell made her way out. The caretaker was shocked that a random kid that had looked to get a job ended up hatching an egg. Yuuji was instructed to take the dragon back home to his village and raise it, he was given books and guides on how to raise a hatchling. On the way back to home, he decided to name his dragon Hana. From that day on, Yuuji had grown with Hana to become Johzenji’s only dragon rider. He stayed in the village for a couple years, protecting it with Hana. When he reached the age where most people would start taking on apprentices of their own, he decided to leave the village to try to join the military and put his dragon riding skills to good use. However, coming from a remote village meant he had no money to use for lodgings and food. Yuuji mostly scavenged and slept under Hana’s wings at night.

 

One day he was flying on his way to the next village and passed by a dragon race. Yuuji then realized something, Hana was pretty fast when she wanted to be, maybe he could enter some races and save up some money. 

 

They had started out small, some beginner races here and there, flying some laps with Hana around gulches and rivers. They lost the first couple serious races they entered, but slowly and steadily they made a name for themselves as a wildcard duo. 

 

Yuuji made it his goal to defeat the reigning champion and his dragon of the country, Wakatoshi Ushijima and his dragon Eita. The two of them had been the leaders for years. Eita was a beautiful lilac feathered dragon, with wings that resembled an eagle’s and with stamina and speed on par with no other dragon. It didn’t help that his rider was as calm, cool, and collected as anyone could ever be while flying. Wakatoshi made dragon riding look easy and effortless, whereas Yuuji thought he was going to die every time he lost balance while in the air.

 

Hana and Yuuji flew to the river that the race was being held. Wakatoshi was racing someone named Tooru and his dragon Tadashi, timid looking brown and green spotted moss dragon. Eita had a firm lead in the race, feathers letting him glide across the air with no trouble. The feathered dragon just needed to flap his wings to keep himself airborne. 

 

Tooru was urging his dragon to fly faster and faster to catch up with Wakatoshi, but it wasn’t enough. Tadashi was beating his wings as hard as he could, but he could not match up with the purple dragon. Tooru took his right hand off the reins and rubbed Tadashi’s neck in reassurance. Tadashi gave a happy growl and found some extra strength to try to catch up to Wakatoshi and Eita. 

 

They were neck and neck, beak and snout. The last turn of the race involved a sharp turn around a large stone protruding from the river. Eita spread his wings out to slow down and make the turn slowly and carefully so that both he and his rider didn’t crash into the stone wall. Wakatoshi didn’t want to sacrifice his dragon for the race, and with the turn as sharp as it was he knew that if Eita didn’t judge it correctly they could both end up hitting the canyon wall or spinning out into the river below. 

 

Tooru had been training with Tadashi to perfect his quick turns. Today was the day to finally see if all their hard training would be put to good use. Tooru pinched Tadashi’s neck crest to get his attention.

 

“Tada-chan, let’s show Ushiwaka just what we’ve been doing these past couple weeks!” Tooru told his dragon. Tadashi was unsure; though they had been practicing hairpin turns and the like, he had yet to be able to do it more than once every ten tries. Tadashi tried to growl or make any noise that could alert his rider that he wasn’t comfortable with going for the quick turn. When he noticed that Tooru wasn’t noticing his attempts, he started to slow down to take the turn at a more safer speed and lower the chances of getting hurt.

 

Noticing the change in speed, Tooru dug his heels harder into Tadashi’s side, urging him to not let up. Tadashi knew he shouldn’t disobey his rider, but he didn’t have the confidence in himself to be able to make the turn safely. He was caught between listening to his rider and risking their safety, or disobeying and being safe. 

 

Tadashi spread his wings against the wind and quickly stopped. Tooru rocked forward a bit due to the force. Tadashi went around the turn slowly and then pushed against the rock to try to catch up to Wakatoshi and Eita. Tooru kept digging his heels into Tadashi’s side, trying to focus on beating Wakatoshi and not focus on how his dragon disobeyed him. 

 

It was too late though, the nimble purple dragon glided across the starting line and up onto the canyon edge. Tooru saw that he lost and flew Tadashi away from the end. He didn’t want to face his fans after a crumbling defeat. 

 

“Damn Hana, do you think he was some amateur?” Yuuji asked his dragon.

 

“Tooru? Oh no, he’s no amateur. He’s actually one of the best riders in the area.” A short woman with glasses sat on a small but fit chocolate brown lung dragon. She jumped down from her dragon and held out her hand. “Shimizu Kiyoko. I help with training riders at the hatchery in Karasuno. Tooru is from Aobajousai and has been challenging Wakatoshi non-stop trying to beat him. Sadly, it doesn’t look like it’s going to happen any time soon. It’s really a shame...one of his protégés trains at Karasuno.” 

 

Yuuji had stopped listening before she finished, more focused on her her long midnight locks tied up with a ribbon. Her granite eyes shined like mica and were full of the passion that came with being a dragon rider. He leaned against Hana’s side and slicked his hair back. 

 

“Hey cutie, if you’re free-” Yuuji snapped his mouth shut as he saw the almost feral look Shimizu’s dragon had. It was growling and almost looked ready to rip out Yuuji’s throat. Hana noticed the defensive lung dragon and wrapped her wing around Yuuji before growling back at Shimizu’s dragon.

 

“Yui, it’s okay! Calm down!” Shimizu cooed trying to get her dragon to calm down and stop being on the verge of attack. “Yuuji, I would gladly appreciate if you didn't flirt with me in front of my dragon, or in general. Thanks.” Shimizu climbed back into the saddle, gave a click of her tongue and Yui leapt into the the sky.

 

“Whoooo wow, she's feisty, her dragon is powerful and gorgeous. I wonder what she uses to maintain that mane?” Yuuji let out a low whistle and started to head to a tent. He assumed it had something to do with the races since it was near the finish line. 

 

“So, um is this where I can challenge Wakatoshi?” He froze as he caught sight of Wakatoshi with his shirt off and oiling his saddle. His chest had large claw scars racing across his taut and sweaty body. Every movement of his arm caused the muscles to constrict and tense in just the way that made Yuuji’s mouth water. To make matters worse he had a stick of salted meat sticking out of his mouth. Yuuji swallowed, ready to call it quits and save his heart. 

 

“Can I help you?” Wakatoshi asked suddenly, taking the jerky out of his mouth. 

 

“Yes!” Yuuji yelped, his voice coming out as a squeak. He heard Hana let out a puff of smoke, the sound resembling a sigh.

 

“Okay. What do you want?” Wakatoshi paused in his cleaning to stare at the man.

 

“Uh, well. You see, I'm a dragon rider. My name’s Yuuji Terushima, and I uh was wondering if I could, uh, challenge you to a race,” Yuuji sputtered. 

 

“Oh I've heard of you. Johzenji’s only rider. Sure, come back in an hour or two. We can race in Amphitrite’s Gulch,” Wakatoshi said before he went back to oiling the saddle. 

 

As Yuuji walked out of the tent he almost collapsed, but Hana was there to catch him. He had to clutch his chest to even out his breathing. He wasn't expecting Wakatoshi Ushijima to be so drop dead gorgeous, even more beautiful and stunning than Shimizu.

* * *

 

By the time Yuuji was heading towards the gulch for the race, his heart was racing and his hands were shaking as he held the reins. His nerves were through the roof and he just wanted to stand up and scream, but gods know that by the time he unstrapped himself from the saddle it would be time to restrap up for the race. As he got closer and closer to the starting point, he could see the delicate lilac outline of Eita and his rider atop him.

 

“Dammit, Hana, why is he even more attractive under the sun?” Yuuji complained. He landed on the cliff across from him and stared, hoping the answer would become clear the longer he gazed. It only made matters worse. 

 

Wakatoshi’s golden skin gleamed in the sun, he pushed his sweat-slick hair out of his eyes. Yuuji’s face erupted in red and he was glad he was safely secured in the saddle or he might have dove into the river to save himself from the heat that was quickly enveloping him. 

 

Hana jolted him out of his daydream by giving a little buck, shaking him in his saddle. Yuuji then realized that it was nearing time for the race to start. He could feel the adrenaline rushing through his body, getting him ready for the thrill and soaring around the canyon above the river. He wanted to be able to prove to the beautiful champion that even though he was from a small village, he could still prove to be a powerful player.  

 

There was a man sitting on a bulky mountain dragon. As the man raised a flag, his dragon started to pull in on itself, like a cat ready to pounce. When he dropped it, the dragon roared, fire erupting from its mouth to signal that the race had begun. Wakatoshi and Eita leapt off and shot through the air. Yuuji was almost taken aback, but with a click of his tongue and a sharp kick of his heels, Hana was following suit. 

 

The two dragons flew through the gorge, turning gracefully around the corners-well, Eita was. Hana was using her hind legs to kick off the wall to get an additional boost of speed, moving like a swimmer changing directions. 

 

It went on, with Eita in the lead and Hana jumping to catch up. When the canyon walls grew smaller, Yuuji could see the river slowly creeping towards them. Eita was still in the lead, but Yuuji and Hana refused to give up, despite the distance between the two dragons.

 

Eita started to slow down. Yuuji didn't understand, but wasn't going to take it for granted. He urged Hana faster, hoping that at the next bend they'd be right behind the other pair.

 

He heard it before he saw it. The loud roaring, that which could rival a dragon's, took over his senses. A clear, almost metallic taste came with the cool mist as it peppered his skin from every direction. The waterfall took up his entire field of vision. He pulled on the reins and brought Hana to a halt. He’d never seen a waterfall in his life, let alone something as huge as this. Off to the side Wakatoshi was studying the waterfall with Eita, probably gauging the best way to scale it. In a rush of feathers and wind, they rocketed up the waterfall. Yuuji watched what Eita and Wakatoshi were doing to get up. It looked like they was scaling it in zig-zags and using the walls to earn more and more momentum. 

 

Yuuji had to risk it. The only way to avoid the waterfall was by retracing his steps through the whole canyon, which in turn would cost him the race. He flew Hana around to try and get a good start. When he decided they were far enough back, he yelled and dug his heels as hard as he could into Hana’s side. She gave a small roar and flapped her wings as fast as possible.

 

“C’mon, Hana! I believe in us, we can do this!” Yuuji yelled as he urged his dragon to gain altitude and fly up the waterfall. They took the turn too late and Hana ran into the falls. The pressured pushed them down into the river. Yuuji didn’t know what to do, he never learned how to deal with water in Hana’s wings. There was no rivers of this magnitude in the mountains. He knew the two of them were going to be submerged in water any time soon. He had barely enough time to loosen his harness and shake his legs to get the feeling back into them, then he hit the water.

* * *

 

Wakatoshi could see the finish line. He knew this race would be an easy one; the sight of the mountain rider and his young dragon had him pitying them with how little experience they had. He knew that by racing in Amphitrite's Gulch, the waterfall would stump him. Wakatoshi paused, choosing to glance behind him at the amateur riders to see if they were still stuck at the bottom. He should at least go to check on his opponent and check how behind they were. What he wasn't prepared for was the echoing splash as both Yuuji and his golden dragon plunged into the river below.

 

Wakatoshi yanked on Eita's reins, earning a squawk of complaint. The dragon then noticed that his rider was looking behind them. They turned around and went to see what happened. True enough, Yuuji and his dragon were sinking down into the water. It looked like they were knocked unconscious on contact since neither were moving. The dragon most likely didn’t know how to swim.

 

“We have to go save them,” Wakatoshi decided. Eita firmly objected by blowing a puff of smoke out his nostrils and tried pull against the reins to keep moving towards the end. “No. We are going to save them, Eita.” Eita pulled against the reins again but his rider kept his hands firmly in place, even pulling towards his ribs to secure his dragon. Wakatoshi quickly unhooked his straps, took himself out of the saddle, and jumped off. Eita, letting out a panicked squawk, quickly dove down to save his rider, making sure not to dig his talons in too tight to cause any more scars for his rider.

 

“Eita. Let me go, I have to save them!” Wakatoshi demanded as he struggled to break free from his dragon’s grasp. Eita realized it was useless trying to help, so he flew down close to the water instead and let go of his rider. 

 

Wakatoshi swam down through the crisp, clear water and struggled to pull Yuuji free from his saddle. Hana was sinking slower so he quickly moved away from her so Eita could use his back claws to bring her out of the water. When Wakatoshi resurfaced with Yuuji, he gave a short whistle and Eita dove to grab Hana. He looked like a bird of prey going in to grab a fish. Mindful that his talons are sharp, Eita gripped onto Hana’s tail and pulled her out of the water slowly.

 

They both swam, bringing the rescued dragon and rider to a bank that was close by. Wakatoshi had to pause to take a breath, seeing that Yuuji had been heavier than he looked. Eita on the other hand had to shake the water out of his feathers. As soon as he was done, he smacked Hana in the chest with his tail until she coughed up some water and was breathing again. Yuuji, on the other hand, wasn’t doing so well, but at least he had a pulse. Wakatoshi started giving compressions, he counted aloud making note in his head how many he had to do. After three sets, Wakatoshi tipped Yuuji’s head back, opened his mouth and pinched his nose, ready to give breaths. He put his mouth over Yuuji’s when Yuuji suddenly woke up, coughing all the water out of his lungs straight into Wakatoshi’s mouth. There was a brief second of both of them clearing the water from their bodies. 

 

Yuuji slowly opened his eyes to see a person looking over him. They were surrounded by a white light, giving them a sacred glow. 

 

“Am… am I dreaming?” Yuuji said weakly. He reached up and touched Wakatoshi’s face tenderly. “I must be dreaming, an angel from high above has graced me with his beautiful presence. Your eyes are like hazely, coppery, honey goodness. How are your eyes so fucking gorgeous?” If Yuuji was awake he would have bitten his tongue because of how embarrassing that line was. 

 

“Yuuji, are you okay?” Wakatoshi asked, ignoring the comment.

 

“Oh yeah, I’m really okay, thanks for saving me Waka-chan.” Yuuji said and then brought his head up and sealed his mouth against Wakatoshi’s.

 

He was taken by surprise, but eased into it with the passion that was coming from Yuuji. They collapsed in the end, kissing and breathing each other in. Yuuji wrapped his hands around Wakatoshi’s neck and rolled them over so he was on top. He stared down at the man and just took in his sun kissed skin and messy olive hair. 

 

Wakatoshi leaned up and whispered into Yuuji’s ear, “You know, there’ll be more time to do this after the race.” He smirked, then whistled for Eita and saddled up. He gave Yuuji one last wink and with a kick of his leg he was off.

  
“Waka-chan, you  _ bastard _ ! Come back and help me up this waterfall!” Yuuji shouted. All he could see was Wakatoshi floating on his dragon at the top of the waterfall, chuckling silently. 

**Author's Note:**

> hi my tumblr is [officialyama](officialyama.tumblr.com) scream about dragons and haikyuu with me plz


End file.
